Natural areas encroaching into grass

11 years ago

This might be a question about tough-weed tactics in the good lawn area.

Am beginning a more organic routine, and taking guidance from here & bestlawn. Out of 3.1 acres, there's about 55k sq ft of mowing area. In that, we had 10 pallets of sod laid last August, and the rest S&S. Where topsoil is good, even the S&S took nicely.

Question is, in are areas where the natural wooded areas border the grass, tons of nasty woodland creeping stuff is creeping into the lawn underground. Since February I've been handling this by hand weekly - pulling, doing sessions of cutting, then hand-applying brush-kill with a small brush. (don't laugh) Most of it in the nicer lawn areas is cut now when we cut the grass, and I expect the grass to choke it out eventually. However, there is a "back 40" which was S&S over the septic drain field, and there are areas there which remain about 40% wild rose, briars, wild grape, thistle, and poison ivey. The worse areas that i want to grass, I'm just going to nuke with brush kill (after the re-naturalized raspberries finish producing *grin*), then level the ground, and plant seed this fall. The worst areas of the back 40 I've brush-killed, and will do same leveling & seeding this fall. It's that middle area that has a TREMENDOUS amount of crap in the grass, but there is mostly thick lush clumps of (whatever seed he planted).

My goal for this area is to have a nice grass path around, and make the entire center into a blooming meadow. But I need to get the briars & poison vine & nasties out first.

I've read about the pyramid, and just did a significant amount of liquid spot-spraying with WBG. I do not see that it's gonna cut the briars, wild rose, poison ivey, or thistle that is thick in the back areas, but then it's only been a few days.

Any suggestion for those creeping nasties would be appreciated!

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Comments (6)

wwwonderwhiskers
Original Author
Thx knuttle. I will look up to see what a weed hoe is, then root through our inherited tools to see if we have one. That would save my back a little.
Bet you did have some fine poison vine. I used to live on Poole Road 'bout a mile past Paul's Grocery. The underbrush was amazingly thick, with tons of poison vine. (I miss Paul's - they had everything - matchless breakfast sandwiches, and if I brought my own quart jar, they'd pour me a quart of black strap literally from a galvanized bucket from the back, LOL. Been a long time, but Good memories... )
Good peaches though.
Thanks!
wwwonderwhiskers
Original Author
Thx knuttle. I will look up to see what a weed hoe is, then root through our inherited tools to see if we have one. That would save my back a little.
Bet you did have some fine poison vine. I used to live on Poole Road 'bout a mile past Paul's Grocery. The underbrush was amazingly thick, with tons of poison vine. (I miss Paul's - they had everything - matchless breakfast sandwiches, and if I brought my own quart jar, they'd pour me a quart of black strap literally from a galvanized bucket from the back, LOL. Been a long time, but Good memories... )
Good peaches though.
Thanks!
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wwwonderwhiskers
Original Author
Thx knuttle. I will look up to see what a weed hoe is, then root through our inherited tools to see if we have one. That would save my back a little.
Bet you did have some fine poison vine. I used to live on Poole Road 'bout a mile past Paul's Grocery. The underbrush was amazingly thick, with tons of poison vine. (I miss Paul's - they had everything - matchless breakfast sandwiches, and if I brought my own quart jar, they'd pour me a quart of black strap literally from a galvanized bucket from the back, LOL. Been a long time, but Good memories... )
Good peaches though.
Thanks!
wwwonderwhiskers
Original Author
Thx knuttle. I will look up to see what a weed hoe is, then root through our inherited tools to see if we have one. That would save my back a little.
Bet you did have some fine poison vine. I used to live on Poole Road 'bout a mile past Paul's Grocery. The underbrush was amazingly thick, with tons of poison vine. (I miss Paul's - they had everything - matchless breakfast sandwiches, and if I brought my own quart jar, they'd pour me a quart of black strap literally from a galvanized bucket from the back, LOL. Been a long time, but Good memories... )
Good peaches though.
Thanks!
wwwonderwhiskers
Original Author
Thx knuttle. I will look up to see what a weed hoe is, then root through our inherited tools to see if we have one. That would save my back a little.
Bet you did have some fine poison vine. I used to live on Poole Road 'bout a mile past Paul's Grocery. The underbrush was amazingly thick, with tons of poison vine. (I miss Paul's - they had everything - matchless breakfast sandwiches, and if I brought my own quart jar, they'd pour me a quart of black strap literally from a galvanized bucket from the back, LOL. Been a long time, but Good memories... )
Good peaches though.
Thanks!
krnuttle
11 years ago
I have 3/4 acre east of Raleigh NC. While most is "grass" there are wild areas. When we moved in I had the best crop of poison ivy in the Carolina. I have been pushing it back with Bayer Advance Bush Killer Plus. I have been using it since spring and it kills the poison ivy.

Using a sprayer wih Bayer material I have removed most of the poison ivy, and have been able to keep the Virginia creaper, which looks similar to poison ivy. I also have been able to keep several small trees that I plan to bring to the front and side yard. There are several plants that are quite pretty that I have found walking through the area that I have saved from the poison ivy spray. With the poison ivy gone, I am find new plants that I want to keep with every trip through the area.

While it works on the Greenbriars, I have found the most effective way is a weed hoe. Periodically I will take the weed hoe and spend a couple of hours enjoying the back part of the lot cutting out Greenbriars.

My next project back there is the hornets and the ticks.

Natural areas encroaching into grass

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